i understand we might reach an agreement that deals with a portion of the so-called fiscal cliff and i want to point out that we're only really talking these days about the tax consequences of the fiscal cli cliff. i don't know exactly how fiscal cliff came into existence, that phrase. i don't know where those words came from. i don't know exactly what they mean. i think they probably mean different things to different people. but it seems to me that the fiscal cliff that we face is based upon sequestration, this plan that was put in place by the budget control act that would reduce spending by $1.2 trillion, both defense and non-defense, as well as the debt ceiling, which our treasury secretary says needs to be addressed, that the -- the peak will be reached, the balance necessary to be raised on december the 31st. you might include the doc fix, this medicare set of payments that we make on a short-term basis to keep physicians seeing medicare patients. and certainly the deficit and debt that our country faces are a part of that fiscal cliff. we are only at the moment, it seems to m